Hello from a bird enthusiast

[BarbH]

Hello I am researching a new camera and my dream is an EOS R6 II but am looking for suggestion. I am really interested in bird and wildlife photography and my trusty point and shoot I’ve had for several years is limited in shooting birds and smaller animals in reduced light. I used to have a Canon AE1 years ago and took many photos and love photography but I can’t keep up with the technology now. I’m quickly realizing by the time I pay out the money for the camera and all the accessories and a longer lens that my budget is being stretched. I am an older woman with some arthritis but enjoy doing easy treks and hikeS. Where I live are lots of beautiful lakes and rivers and plenty of birds especially during migratory season. I regularly have Bighorn sheep and deer by my house as well as small mammals and would love to get some good photos. I’m looking for suggestions on other EOS R camera bodies that might fill the bill and what a good choice for a first lens and other accessories would be. I live in British Columbia Canada.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

Hey Barb - welcome from another bird nerd!!

Reading your post you remind me a lot of anolder friend in FL (she's in her 70's) who wasn't a wildlife photographer until she moved there, and while she loves it she has issues with anything "heavy", which for her is often what I would call "light" for a bird rig. Realizing that you're coming from a point and shoot there are countless options that will work well for you while improving your photos. I came to Canon from Nikon a little less than 2 years ago, so my words come from someone who knows only the mirrorless side, but I know it fairly well. Since switching I've purchased and still own an R5, R6, and R7 (in that order), and for what you shoot I'm thinking the R6 might be the last body I'd recommend, and not because it's not a great camera.

I don't know what your budget is, but for anyone coming in from a point and shoot with your interests I would highly recommend an R7 and the 100-400mm RF. The R7's cropped sensor gives you 1.6x the focal length that you'd get from the full frame R6, so the 100-400mm on the R7 acts like a 160-640mm on the R6, and it is extremely easy on both your wallet and your shoulder/neck when compared to an R6 and 100-500mm RF. And that extra reach for birds, in particular, is a HUGE thing, believe me. Pair that with the 18-150mm RF-S lens and you have something that's super easy to carry around on a hike and shoot everything from landscapes to birds in trees. I can't think of anything other than a good bag to add to it as a starter, other than a couple good memory cards. They can be expensive, but for the R7 I highly recommend the Sony Tough cards as they have the fastest write speeds and that's something that you need to overcome one of the limitations of that camera when shooting in burst mode.

Most of my shooting is with the R5 or R7 with the 100-500mm, but I have the 100-400mm and it's an amazingly sharp lens for the price. My wife will use it with the R7 when we shoot together, and I'll use it for video when I'm carrying two cameras around. If you head to my Instagram link (left) a huge chunk of what I've shot since last July has been with the R7.

 

[Bryan Conner]

Hi Barb, welcome to the forum.

Jake gave some really sound advice.

 

[BarbH]

Hey Barb - welcome from another bird nerd!!

Reading your post you remind me a lot of anolder friend in FL (she's in her 70's) who wasn't a wildlife photographer until she moved there, and while she loves it she has issues with anything "heavy", which for her is often what I would call "light" for a bird rig. Realizing that you're coming from a point and shoot there are countless options that will work well for you while improving your photos. I came to Canon from Nikon a little less than 2 years ago, so my words come from someone who knows only the mirrorless side, but I know it fairly well. Since switching I've purchased and still own an R5, R6, and R7 (in that order), and for what you shoot I'm thinking the R6 might be the last body I'd recommend, and not because it's not a great camera.

I don't know what your budget is, but for anyone coming in from a point and shoot with your interests I would highly recommend an R7 and the 100-400mm RF. The R7's cropped sensor gives you 1.6x the focal length that you'd get from the full frame R6, so the 100-400mm on the R7 acts like a 160-640mm on the R6, and it is extremely easy on both your wallet and your shoulder/neck when compared to an R6 and 100-500mm RF. And that extra reach for birds, in particular, is a HUGE thing, believe me. Pair that with the 18-150mm RF-S lens and you have something that's super easy to carry around on a hike and shoot everything from landscapes to birds in trees. I can't think of anything other than a good bag to add to it as a starter, other than a couple good memory cards. They can be expensive, but for the R7 I highly recommend the Sony Tough cards as they have the fastest write speeds and that's something that you need to overcome one of the limitations of that camera when shooting in burst mode.

Most of my shooting is with the R5 or R7 with the 100-500mm, but I have the 100-400mm and it's an amazingly sharp lens for the price. My wife will use it with the R7 when we shoot together, and I'll use it for video when I'm carrying two cameras around. If you head to my Instagram link (left) a huge chunk of what I've shot since last July has been with the R7.

 

[BarbH]

Oh oh I jumped the gun! Or should I say camera. I wish I had found this group a few weeks ago. Your recommendation about the R7 makes a lot of sense but last night when I saw stock for the EOS R6II disappearing in my part of the world I bought the last EOS R6II at 10 pm online and I pick it up today. I had based my decision to buy the 6 on the Birds in Flight field test results and the R7 hadn’t ranked high but I also didn’t think about the other good points you made about the R7. I was concerned I would be frustrated with too many poorly focused images so hadn’t considered anything else about the R7. I didn’t know it had a smaller sensor or was that much lighter. I’m 69 but a tall woman and hoping the weight won’t be too much. I had gone into the camera shop a couple of weeks ago and felt what the R6 predecessor felt like with a Sigma 150-600 C. The weight of the camera and lens together felt balanced and not too heavy. I didn’t try any other lenses on the camera as they had very limited stock. I haven’t ordered or paid for any other accessories. I appreciate your input and will buy the Sony tough cards. I don’t have a big budget and do I need the 128 or would 64 work for going out for an hour or two at a time? For a first lens do you have any suggestions for me? I will buy other lenses in the next year but I hope I can buy another lens without completely blowing my budget today. I had forgotten how much everything adds up! I am recovering from some health issues right now and will be taking photos from my backyard of birds at my feeders and in my trees for the next few weeks. Do you have a suggestion for what lens might be affordable and be workable? I do appreciate your input very much and so far have only purchased the camera and an extra battery for when I can travel. I don’t have anything else yet. Thank you so much in advance.

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

These things happen, Barb. I'm sure you'll do fine with the R6 and 150-600mm.

With the cards, while the Sony Toughs are great cards they are likely overkill for the R6. With the R7 the buffer is so small that clearing it quickly is a top priority. I've never run into a buffer issue with the R6 so you're probably good with anything with a write speed at 98Mbs. Save the $$ for something else.

 

[BarbH]

These things happen, Barb. I'm sure you'll do fine with the R6 and 150-600mm.

With the cards, while the Sony Toughs are great cards they are likely overkill for the R6. With the R7 the buffer is so small that clearing it quickly is a top priority. I've never run into a buffer issue with the R6 so you're probably good with anything with a write speed at 98Mbs. Save the $$ for something else.

Thanks Jake!
Really appreciate your feedback and advice.

 

[Hali]

Welcome to the forums, Barb! You've gotten great advice, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you create!

 

[Paul Iddon]

Welcome aboard Barb.

Paul.

 

[Kamoshika]

Hi Barb,

Newcomer here myself and a new owner of the R6MII. For birds, I have it paired with the RF100-500mm and am loving it. I have an IO-DATA SD2U3-128G in slot 1 that seems to be working quite well.

 

[BarbH]

I picked up my new EOS R6II a couple of days ago. I did get to hold the R7 in my hands and it felt less comfortable because I have very large hands and long fingers. I used to be close to 6’ tall. I was seriously contemplating the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary but in the end bought the RF 100-400. It was a good price and would work for my backyard shots until my health allows me to get out and about more and I decided to get an RF lens to get maximum use of the autofocus. The 109-500 would be nice but a bit too big for my budget.
I would welcome suggestions as to what the next lens or combination would work well for birds out in the field. We have many bodies of water, lots of open Ponderosa pine forests, and cliffs where I live. California Bighorn Sheep, deer, bears, snakes and marmots are some other favourite subjects as well as insects and local vegetation.

I love how my camera feels with both the 24-105 kit lens and the 100-400 lens. The grip fits my hand very well in spite of my arthritis. I was so excited to try it out I forgot I needed to format my SD cards I took some pictures of birds at my feeder right at dusk and there is no doubt my settings were off because I only used the [A+] setting but I was amazed it focused on the eye of juncos even though I couldn’t see the eyes. I took some photos of deer in my driveway and neighbours yard and I’m excited to see my first attempts. My very black bouncy Standard Poodle is usually very difficult to get the black eyes in focus but they turned out great.

My biggest challenge now is seeing how to retrieve my photos and upload them to my iPad and to format my cards. The manual is a little overwhelming as there are definitely a lot to learn as I would expect with a camera like this. My last camera was a very good bridge camera which is super light and has a zoom of up to 400 and shoots raw so I will keep it for biking and dog walking as my dog is still young and bouncy! I’ve been trying to wade through the manual and have a lot to learn. I think I might look at some YouTube tutorials to take it easy on my eyes and brain lol.
I’m really glad I’ve found this group!

 

[BarbH]

I haven’t quite figured out how to upload my photos properly and these are my very first ones using my brand new R6II and a 100-400 mm lens right before dusk and at dusk when I got home with it. I have no idea what I did yet other than turn it on and give it a try. I have a lot of practice and reading to do. I was really happy how much easier it was to get photos of my dog where you can clearly see his

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

• Join to view EXIF data.

 

[wcmarie]

Barb,
Welcome from Ohio! I haven't used this forum much at all, but have to get back into it. Hubby and I are both 71, we shoot with R5/me and R6/him. I find the RF 100-500 incredible for birds and we use a 1.4 adapter and occasionally I bump it into the 1.6 crop (but am usually sorry afterwards). We shoot birds, any animals we come across, landscapes, anything we find interesting. We have spent way too much money, but are generally happy with our choices of lenses. I hope you enjoy your R6!!

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome aboard Barbara and thank you for joining up here. Well it sounds like you've already received a lot of great advice and are already shooting away with your new gear! I'd recommend this excellent setup video from Jason if you'd like to learn more about the R6 Mk II.

 

[BarbH]

Welcome aboard Barbara and thank you for joining up here. Well it sounds like you've already received a lot of great advice and are already shooting away with your new gear! I'd recommend this excellent setup video from Jason if you'd like to learn more about the R6 Mk II.

Thank you! I am a little overwhelmed right now by all the videos available so it is great to have a good starting place. I need to figure out all my settings, autofocus for bouncing critters and a whole bunch more.

 

[BarbH]

Barb,
Welcome from Ohio! I haven't used this forum much at all, but have to get back into it. Hubby and I are both 71, we shoot with R5/me and R6/him. I find the RF 100-500 incredible for birds and we use a 1.4 adapter and occasionally I bump it into the 1.6 crop (but am usually sorry afterwards). We shoot birds, any animals we come across, landscapes, anything we find interesting. We have spent way too much money, but are generally happy with our choices of lenses. I hope you enjoy your R6!!

Thank you so much for your info and input. I have purchased the 100-400 inexpensive lens but I suspect once I have more $ saved in the next year or two I will update to the 100-500 if I find I want a better lens. I had No previous equipment so I’ve been buying all sorts of accessories and so want to buy the 1.4 crop or whichever people suggest is more functional for me. I bought the RF 800 mm F/11 which I know isn’t a fast lens but for the price it is a good one to try I figure especially since it was a couple of hundred dollars CAD cheaper right now.

 

[wcmarie]

Thank you so much for your info and input. I have purchased the 100-400 inexpensive lens but I suspect once I have more $ saved in the next year or two I will update to the 100-500 if I find I want a better lens. I had No previous equipment so I’ve been buying all sorts of accessories and so want to buy the 1.4 crop or whichever people suggest is more functional for me. I bought the RF 800 mm F/11 which I know isn’t a fast lens but for the price it is a good one to try I figure especially since it was a couple of hundred dollars CAD cheaper right now.

We bought the 800 and is mainly used by hubby. It is a great lens when used in appropriate lighting situations. We also bought the 100-400 when we first got the R5 because we couldn't find a 100-500 anywhere and we couldn't wait! They are all very sharp! I am playing with my 15-35 RF and my 24-70 RF. It is amazing how it can take a while to learn the idiosyncrasies of each lens! We are not disappointed!